I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to techniques for managing handover of a device between respective networks in a wireless communication environment.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various communication services; for instance, voice, video, packet data, broadcast, and messaging services can be provided via such wireless communication systems. These systems can be multiple-access systems that are capable of supporting communication for multiple terminals by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.
A wireless multiple-access communication system may simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. In such a system, each terminal can communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link can be established via a single-input-single-output (SISO), multiple-input-single-output (MISO), single-input multiple-output (SIMO), or a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) system.
In various wireless communication network implementations, applications and/or other means for conducting wireless communication can operate according to various Quality of Service (QoS) parameters, which can specify respective requirements for the application in terms of data rates, error rates, channel quality, or the like. Accordingly, in some cases a user equipment unit (UE) and/or other suitable device in a wireless communication network, and/or the wireless communication network itself, can initiate QoS reservation procedures to facilitate communication between the UE and the network. Further, in the event that a UE initiates a handover between different radio access technologies (RATs) based on various criteria, it can be appreciated that an established QoS context corresponding to the UE may in some cases need to be transferred from one RAT involved in the handover to another RAT. Accordingly, it would be desirable to implement techniques for facilitating transfer of QoS context and/or other QoS parameters during an inter-RAT handover within a wireless communication environment in a substantially efficient manner.